The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
A reclamation strategy that spanned more than a decade culminated in the responsibility and control for the Peanut Mine parcel being transferred back to the Crested Butte Land Trust from the Peanut Mine, Inc. on June 30.
The Land Trust purchased the historic 86-acre Peanut Mine parcel because of its critical location to the Lower Loop trail system. The previous owner had no obligation to reclaim the site, because the mine and mill site closed down prior to 1977.
After the coal tailings spontaneously combusted in the summer of 2000, the Land Trust embraced the task of cleaning up the seven acres of unprocessed rock, partially processed ore, and mill tailings that were left behind.
In order to better manage the reclamation process, Peanut Mine Inc. was created as a separate nonprofit organization. The directors of PMI have included Jim Starr, John Hess, David Baxter, Jennifer Rose, and Alan Bernholtz.
The plan called for responsibility for the Peanut Mine to return to the Land Trust upon completion of the reclamation. The state of Colorado formally acknowledged the successful completion of the project in November 2011.
Reclamation of the site was designed and managed by Steve Renner of the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining and Safety (DRMS). Funding partners included the Budd family, the Crested Butte Land Trust, the Gates Family Foundation, the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund, the U.S. Office of Surface Mining, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Colorado Department of Health and Environment. At the end of the project, 75 volunteers planted 4,700 trees on the property.
The Peanut Mine Reclamation Project won a National Award for Excellence in 2008 from the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 2010, the Crested Butte Land Trust and PMI, with the help of more than 150 volunteers and the town of Crested Butte, built a trail connecting from the Woods Walk Trail to the Budd Trail through the Peanut Mine parcel.
The Land Trust thanks the directors of Peanut Mine, Inc. for their stewardship of the Peanut Mine reclamation process. The Crested Butte Land Trust is proud of this project as it showcases how creative strategies can be used to restore and preserve valuable open space for the benefit of the entire community.
For more about the land trust visit www.cblandtrust.org
